


Well it's not just me this time

by Emma_with_her_head_in_the_clouds



Series: Trouble seems to find me... [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-04-14 05:19:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14128944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emma_with_her_head_in_the_clouds/pseuds/Emma_with_her_head_in_the_clouds
Summary: Peter ends up in trouble again. Who'd have thought it? At least he's not alone this time... Tony's trapped with him.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the second part of my "Trouble seems to find me..." series, so read part one first (as I make references to events in it).

Peter's lungs burnt. He couldn't hold his breath any longer, but water filled his mouth and his nose. He thrashed in panic, pressing his body against the hard metal of the crate and tangling his limbs in the web holding him up. He wanted to scream, but he had no breath to.

He opened his eyes and lifted his head in panic, away from the pillow he'd had his face buried in. He turned over and lay gasping on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. It was just a nightmare. It was just a nightmare.

Eventually he managed to calm down his frantic breaths. That wasn't the first time he'd relived that harrowing experience. It was now just over a fortnight since he'd nearly drowned, and was trying to get his life back to normal, but his dreams didn't seem to have got the memo. Or maybe nightmares were his normal; he'd not been a stranger to them before either, but he was now starting to rack up traumatic experiences to terrorise him at night. "Well, that's just great!" he thought to himself, sarcastic and bitter.

He checked the clock. He still had a couple of hours before he had to get up for school. He'd better try going back to sleep. He didn't want to be falling asleep in class- he'd was already trying to catch up after having missed nearly a whole week of school after the incident.

He lay there for a while. It felt like he was never going to fall back to sleep. Not because he wasn't tired (he was). Not even because of the nightmare; now he was awake, he'd been able to put it back to the back of his mind (whether it would stay there was another question). But he just had that feeling sleep was going to evade him. He was quite surprised when he suddenly heard his alarm clock go off (first because of the alarm itself, and then on realised he had managed to get back to sleep). He groaned an crawled out of bed.

Even though he'd got up in decent time, he still ended up in a mad rush to get out of the flat on time. It didn't help that his walk to the subway was now longer than it used to be; he previously took shortcuts down various alleys, but now Tony had F.R.I.D.A.Y. analysing his every move, he stuck to main streets to prevent the A.I. picking faults with the "safety" of his route. That was one of the changes that had happened since the drowning incident; Tony had greatly upped the security measures around Peter. Even though the incident had happened when he was out as Spider-Man, it had been decided that Peter should wear a watch that allowed F.R.I.D.A.Y. to keep track of him all the time now. He would have argued about the invasion into his privacy, except that May also seemed to find the measure reassuring. Peter hated the worried looks she kept giving him after his near-death experience, and if this helped her, his privacy was a price worth paying. 

He sprinted into homeroom just before the bell rang, taking his usual seat next to Ned. MJ turned round to stare at him with a look of sarcastic disapproval.   
"Hey!" he panted in greeting, trying to get his breath back.  
"Yo, try not to breathe on me!" MJ replied, pulling her top up to cover her mouth, "I'm still not sure I can be certain you're germ free after you were ill the week before last."  
"I promise you, my chest is now infection free!" Peter told her, and she slowly lowered her guard. A "chest infection" was the story he'd went with to explain why he'd been off school; he thought it would be easier to explain than "I nearly drowned", and was technically kind of true. He did have a little bit of a chest infection after, probably as a result of all the water he'd inhaled.

The school day passed fairly uneventfully. In chemistry, he discovered he hadn't done as badly in his test last lesson as he thought he might have, considering that he had missed a lot of the teaching beforehand. Gym kind of sucked; they were playing basketball, and Peter wasn't particularly great at it (at least whilst not using his powers- he could probably dunk a basket if he stuck to the ceiling to do it, but that would almost definitely be noticed).


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter ended up being a much longer tangent than I intended. But what's not to love about Peter and Vision playing hide-and-seek?

Happy was waiting outside with the car to pick him up at the end of the day. Peter wasn't allowed to go out on his own as Spider-Man at the moment. Instead after school he was off to the Avengers' base each day to train. As much as he enjoyed training with the different people (sometimes Tony, sometimes support staff, sometimes different Avengers [well, of the few of them there was left]), he was looking forward to when he could get back out there on his own. 

"How's it going, Happy?" Peter asked as he jumped into the back of the car. Happy just replied with a grunt. "He loves me really," Peter thought to himself. He talked aloud about his day (not put off by the one-sided nature of the "conversation"). In fact, the only time he got a word out of Happy was when he asked who he was going to be training with that day. It was Vision apparently. Training with Vision was usually… interesting.

When they got to the base, Peter headed to his room to change (he still had a room there despite having turned down the offer of becoming an Avenger- though to be fair, considering the lack of Avengers at present, there was hardly a shortage of rooms). As soon as he'd got his costume on, Vision appeared through the wall (Peter had the sneaking suspicion Vision had been stood waiting for him to finish changing).   
"Hey Vis! What we up to today?"  
"Greetings Mr Parker! I thought we would begin by playing a game I believe they call 'hide and seek'".   
"But that's a kids game!"  
"Are you not a "kid"?" Vision asked, but on seeing Peter's annoyed face, continued: "Tracking down targets that are hiding is a key skill for any superhero."  
"Ok, fine. Where we playing?"  
"We have access to all of the rooms on this corridor, because at present ours are the only ones in use. If I understand the rules correctly, I shall hide in one of the rooms whilst you close your eyes and count to 30, then you have to come find me as quickly as possible. To make the game more combat-accurate, I would suggest you use your powers to find me without me seeing you, and try to capture me in one of your webs."  
"But you can just phase out of my webs?"  
"That would be, as they say, cheating."

"…28, 29, 30! Ready or not, here I come!" Peter called, feeling quite nostalgic. He took a second to think; how should he do this tactically? Normally he might be able to listen out for his target with his enhanced hearing, but Vision was unlikely to be making any noise (considering he didn't need to breathe, and was unlikely to be fidgeting). He decided to run down the corridor, pushing all the doors open and quickly peeping round them to see if he could see anything. Now all the doors were open, he wouldn't have to open them to enter (hence the noise wouldn't give him away). 

He crawled up onto the ceiling and through the first door. This was Vision's room. It was pretty sparsely filled; he guessed Vision didn't have much care for material possessions. There was a bed in the middle of the room, but Peter wasn't even sure if Vision slept. He looked around. There wasn't that much in the way of places Vision could be hiding in here (plus would it be a bit too on the nose for him to be hiding in his own room?). Peter hesitated before checking the cupboard, unsure whether it would be considered an invasion of privacy. Well, Vision did invite him to play "hide and seek" in there, so surely that meant it was ok? He launched a web at the corner of the door, and used it to slowly pull it backwards, making as little noise as possible. To be honest, Peter was a bit apprehensive about what he might find in there, but was slightly surprised to find the answer was nothing at all; the cupboard was completely empty. Peter dropped himself to the floor to check under the desk and the bed for completeness sake, then declared the room empty and moved on. 

The next room was Peter's and was also pretty bare (because he never really even used it). He did the same sweep as before before declaring it empty too. He was just leaving when he remembered he'd forgotten to check the en suite (he'd forgotten Vision's too. If Vision had one? Did Vision have any need for a bathroom?). He pulled open the door and peeked round it. The shower curtain was pulled round the bath. That seemed a little bit suspect. He'd not been in there that day, so wasn't sure if it was before, but didn't see why it would be. 

He decided to loudly walk away from the bathroom, creep back, then suddenly yank open the curtain using his webs (ready to hide behind the door in a "defensive" move). When he poked his head back around the door when nothing happened, he saw the bathtub was in fact empty. The curtain had been a red herring.

The next room was another almost identical bedroom, this time completely empty aside from furniture. The shower curtain was drawn round the bath again. Maybe Vision had pulled them round them all? (Considering he could walk through walls, he could have easily done it in the 30 seconds he had to hide. Or actually, he could have just done it earlier, before Peter even got there). Again, the tub turned out to be empty. 

The final room on the right-hand side of the corridor was a lounge. Peter hadn't really been in before, so wasn't sure what to expect. There was a big TV with various game consoles and multimedia devices at the far end, some cupboards (this time surely too small for Vision to be able to hide in; Peter could perhaps fit in some of them at a push, or more accurately, if someone pushed him in- they looked about the same size as school lockers after all), a coffee table in the middle of the room, and three sofas around the edge. Peter slowly walked around the room, thinking Vision could be hiding behind one of the sofas. He wasn't.

Across from the lounge was a little kitchen. Peter checked the fridge and cupboards, this time not really looking for Vision, instead wondering if there was any snacks. They were disappointedly empty (but that made sense considering Vision was likely the only person to use this kitchen, hence there probably wasn't much point keeping it stocked). He had a good look around the dining table before moving on.

The next room was another empty bedroom. Peter didn't find anything there. Or in the next one. He'd checked all the rooms on the corridor now. Where was Vision? Was he cheating and moving around? Was there another room the Peter hadn't noticed? Or was Vision just better at hiding than Peter had anticipated? 

He rechecked Vision's room. It turned out it did have an en suite he'd missed, but it was empty (of both Vision and of toiletries, so presumably Vision didn't use it). He rechecked his room: nope. The living room: nope. Kitchen: nope. Other bedrooms: nope, nope, nope. Where was he? Peter wondered about admitting defeat, but really wanted to get cleared to go out on the streets patrolling again, and didn't think Tony would do that if he heard Peter failed Vision's task. So he tried again, this time taking it super-seriously, and pretending there was a gunman hiding out to kill him. He had to look EVERYWHERE. He searched all over Vision's room, remembering to check the tricky places that sometimes caught him out as a kid, like behind the curtains and round the back of the door. Only once he was certain there was no way Vision could be in there, he moved on to his room. Again he checked scrupulously and unsuccessfully.

He'd almost given up on the next bedroom too, when he got the feeling he needed to give the place a final look. It wasn't so much that his spidey sense was tingling (maybe because Vision wasn't a threat per se), he just felt maybe there was something about the room he was missing. He had another look under the bed, and that's when he spotted a shape in the darkness, cramped underneath the head end. He fired a web at it.  
"Got you!" he called, jubilant. The shape disappeared, leaving the web behind, and Vision appeared through the bed, sitting himself down on top of it.  
"Well done! You found me! It took you 27 minutes 43 seconds."  
"It took me half an hour!?" Peter asked, surprised just how long it had took (that and the fact that Vision had been cramped down there that long- a normal person probably would have insisted on moving to a more comfortable position after five minutes at the most).   
"Yes. I must admit, your finding skills could be improved, but you showed some good technique and use of your powers. I was impressed with the careful caution you used to check the bathrooms."  
"You saw? How?" Peter asked, confused. Vision pointed to the camera on his suit. Of course! Vision must be able to remotely access Peter's suit network, just how Mr Stark could access it using F.R.I.D.A.Y.   
"Now I believe it's your turn to hide."

It only took Vision 4 minutes 36 seconds to locate Peter (though Peter was quite proud it wasn't less). He'd decided to cling to the wall above the door in the en suite of one of the other empty bedrooms. He nearly thought he'd got away with it the first time Vision came in to check, but Vision spotted him on turning round to leave the bathroom. 

All in all, it wasn't a bad training session. At least it was something a bit different (and didn't involve people trying to attack him for once).


	3. Chapter 3

It was the weekend before Tony let Peter try out his skills on the streets of New York again. Peter had finally persuaded him that he was back to full health and fitness, and with his newly improved skills in tow, was ready to return to crime-fighting. He wasn't alone of course. He knew Iron Man was hovering around just out of sight, watching everything he did on the camera in his suit. He felt quite honoured that Tony Stark was spending so much time and effort making sure he was ok. Tony really did seem to care about him. It was sweet really. Super annoying at times, but sweet still.

He stopped a purse snatcher, leaving the guy webbed to the side of the building. He managed to rescue a cat from a tree, with some difficulty. After chasing it around the branches for a while, he managed to catch it in a web and lowered it down to the ground, whilst the confused-looking feline clawed at the web, trying to escape. He was sure he could hear the sound of Tony's laughter in the background.

At one point he mis-aimed with his web and nearly fell. Peter tried to cover it up as something he meant to do, and hoped Tony didn't notice. That was probably unlikely, but Tony didn't say anything over the comms, for now at least. One time that he was sure he did spot Iron Man close the distance towards him, before quickly backing off again, was when he went to deal with a convenience store robbery and the robber pulled a gun on him. Peter was unfazed though, and quickly disarmed the guy himself.

He was just hanging around (quite literally), wondering about calling it a day (or at least asking if Tony wanted him to, thinking he'd best not push his luck), when he heard some chatter from some dodgy looking guys down an alley.  
"Karen, what they saying?" he asked his suit after the men climbed into a vehicle, making it harder for him to hear them. Karen played their conversation, and it sounded like they were off to meet with the rest of their team before pulling off some big deal (they didn't directly allude to what the deal was about, but it sounded like drugs maybe). 

He got ready to follow them, then paused. This was sounding similar to the situation that lead to him almost drowning less than three weeks ago. What should he do?  
"Hey, Mr Stark?" he called, assuming his mentor was listening to comms. "Did you hear what I picked up from those guys? I was thinking I should, you know, follow them. …Should I?" He waited a few seconds for an answer.  
"Yeah, tail them. But stay back and under the radar. If you reckon they've made you, get out of there. I'll be right behind you."

So Peter started following the van, first by jumping/swinging between building, then dropping down and clinging to the back of the truck. He couldn't really see Iron Man following him, but guessed that Tony was just good at staying out of site. When the van turned off, he had to quickly jump across onto the back of a pick-up; the passenger in the cab gave him a weird look. He stayed crouched there for a short while until another truck went past, and he jumped across to the back of it. He stayed there for a while, keeping checking than the van was still ahead (luckily the truck seemed to be travelling at a similar speed), but also looking out to see if he could see Iron Man flying around. He thought he spotted him once or twice: once quite high up in the sky and once a short distance away in a break in a line of trees. 

Eventually the van turned off, down a smaller side road. Peter had to jump across a few vehicles in order to get to one also going that way. He was clinging to the back of a hatchback, which wasn't ideal, particularly because he had to keep ducking each time the driver looked in their rear-view mirror. The van turned off into a rather shabby looking industrial estate. Peter shot a web off into some nearby trees and swung across; he'd make his own way the rest of the way. He followed the van through to the edge of the trees, watching it pull into a building.

"Mr Stark? You there?"  
"Yeah, I'm right behind you kid."  
"They've pulled into a building. What do you want to do now?" He heard some rustling and the Iron Man suit came into view amongst the trees Peter was hiding in.  
"There's a side door over there," Tony said, pointing, "I'll sneak in there. You wait here for now."

Peter wasn't keen on being told to wait behind, but did so, watching Tony fly across the open space and disappear behind the door. He listened carefully, both for any sounds coming from the building, or for instructions from Tony. Suddenly he heard loud shouts from within the building, and the sound of gunfire. He jumped. The hairs on his arms stood on end. He felt like he needed to be in there.

"I'm coming in!" he yelled, sprinting across the concrete and through the side door. He followed the noise down a small corridor, and into a big open space. Multiple men with guns were popping up from behind a van and firing at Tony, who was flying round in his Iron Man suit, firing his blasters at them. Suddenly Peter spotted a man crouched on a loft behind Tony, about to get the drop on him. He wasn't sure what would happen if he did get the drop on him; the Iron Man suit was pretty tough, but the guy's weapon looked pretty hefty too. Surely it wasn't a rocket launcher? Anyway, Peter's instinct took over and he fired a web up and swung towards him, knocking him slightly out of the way.

"WHAT THE HELL…!?" Tony started, now spotting the guy and blasting him backwards, continuing to fly around whilst Peter clung to him. Bullets continued to bounce off his armour, just missing Peter. Tony backed off and landed so that Peter could climb off and out of the direct firing line. He continued to engage his assailants, who were now also pulling out bigger weapons from the truck, and bringing them in from within the warehouse. Peter did manage to web a couple of them to the ceiling, but they were still greatly outnumbered. One of the criminals fired off what appeared to be a small rocket, blasting a hole in the side of the building. Peter had to dash through a nearby door to avoid a second blast. He was just about the re-enter when Iron Man was blasted backwards through the door, forcing him to quickly dive out of the way. Then came another blast, bigger than the previous ones. Peter closed his eyes and crouched, covering his head with his hands.


	4. Chapter 4

After a few seconds, Peter removed his arms cautiously. He felt relatively unharmed. He opened his eyes. At least he thought he did. He didn't see anything. Starting to panic, he ripped his mask off his face. He was met with a world of settling dust; he couldn't make much out, but definitely could see. He pulled the mask down again. Why couldn't he see anything through it?  
"Karen, what's going on?" No reply. "Karen?" There was no response, so he pulled his mask back off again. That's when he spotted Iron Man lying a short distance away, amongst some rubble. He ran towards him.   
"Mr Stark! Are you ok?" At first he didn't hear anything, but then he saw him move slightly, and heard murmuring from inside the suit. Tony raised his hands to take his helmet off, but it wasn't opening. He said something again.  
"What!?" Peter asked loudly, unable to make out what he was saying.   
"Help me get this damn helmet off! It's stuck closed!" Tony shouted, and this time Peter could hear him. He inspected the joints holding the front of the helmet on. Normally the faceplate automatically retracted, but it appeared Tony was also having problems with his suit. Peter wasn't sure whether to try and unscrew the fastenings of the faceplate, or just try force it off. He looked around for anything he could use as a makeshift screwdriver. Now the dust was settling, he could see around a bit better. He wasn't sure what this room was, but it appeared to be almost like a metal box. The walls had been covered with brickwork, but the explosion had shook most of it off, exposing the metalwork underneath. He'd wonder about what this all was in a minute; first he needed to help Mr Stark. He managed to find some twisted wire amongst the rubble. He started poking it into the helmet, hoping to be able to loosen some of the fastening mechanism. Tony seemed to be getting quite angsty to get it off, which seemed strange, considering how long he normally spent in his armour. Peter heard something click. Tony started trying to pull the faceplate off again. The left side seemed a bit loose now, but the right side was still stuck fast. Peter took over pulling, using his strength to manage to pull the left side away slightly, leaving a small gap through which he could see Tony's face. Tony gasped in deep breaths (perhaps because of the fresh air, or just because of panic?)

"I think that must have been an EMP," Tony told him, once he'd caught his breath, "All the electronics in the suit's down."  
"Mine too."  
"I should have made this damn thing easier to get off when the electronics are down. So much for technical improvements…" He started trying to look around through the gap in the helmet. "Lets try and get out of here." The door they came in through appeared to be the only one into the room. It had closed behind them, and seemed slightly dinted. Peter tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. He put more force into it. A rumbling noise came from behind it, but the door didn't move. He kept trying.  
"Peter," Tony called, "Peter! Stop! It's not going to open. You're just going to hurt yourself, or cause more of the building to collapse."   
"Are we stuck here?" They both looked around the room. It appeared they were. They had no way of contacting anybody.  
"For now, maybe. But F.R.I.D.A.Y. will activate protocols if our suits remain out of contact." He sighed. It seemed that waiting to be rescued might well end up being their current situation. Tony Stark wasn't really the kind of guy who did waiting for rescue. He'd made a robotic suit in the middle of a desert to escape the Taliban for God's sake. If he had to sit around and wait for Rhodey or Vision or someone to come save him, he'd never live it down.   
"Pass me that wire," he told Peter, "I might as well keep trying to get this off, so I can actually see properly. Why don't you make use of your powers and crawl around the ceiling, see if there's any trapdoors or anything?" 

Tony sat down and worked on his helmet again. He built the thing, he should be able to unbuild it. Peter crawled around above him, being careful where the plaster was loose. There didn't appear to be any joints in the metal he could force apart, it was all welded and riveted together.  
"What do you reckon this room's for?" he asked Tony. "Why do they have a metal box room?" He paused, thinking, "Do you think this was a trap?" Tony had been wondering the same thing. This all seemed quite strange. The two of them being shepherded into what was now essentially a cage. The EMP taking down their suits. But why? When he'd been fighting them, they seemed surprised to see him, and seemed to be trying to take him down rather than capture him. Maybe it was just coincidence? Maybe they'd got lucky, and had ended up in some kind of safe room at the same time an explosion had rocked the building? Their assailants might be lying dead in a wreck of the building outside this room.  
"Maybe."

Peter continued to crawl around the ceiling. He was crossing an area where the plaster was mainly still attached. A chunk came loose under him. By reflex, he went to fire off a web. But the web-shooters on his suit had been taken out by the EMP. So nothing happened. Nothing, except Peter fell to the ground. 

Tony turned around when he heard the crash.  
"Shit! Kid, are you ok?" he asked, sounding worried. Peter vaguely waved an arm from the pile of rubble his was lying in.  
"Urgh. Yeah, I'm good." Aching, but seemingly not seriously injured, he slowly pulled himself to his feet. "Turns out my web-shooters on my suit aren't working. I should remember that in future." He brushed some of the dust off his suit, massaging the parts of his body that ached (which was most of them).

Satisfied that Peter was probably alright, Tony returning to tinkering with his helmet. Peter came and sat down next to him. They sat quietly for a few minutes, just the sound of metal scratching against metal in the helmet, and the occasional quiet curse from Tony.  
"Aha!" he shouted suddenly, victorious, "That's got it!" He'd managed to get the other side of the faceplate unattached. Peter gave him a hand to carefully tear it off. Tony smiled, taking in the feeling of the air against his face, which was slightly shiny with sweat.   
"So what do we do now?" Peter asked him after a few moments.  
"Well, considering the combined IQ of the occupants of this room, I would hope the answer is figure out a way out." 

They both sat thinking. Tony had got so used to relying on his electronics, his A.I.s, his robotic suits. He was embarrassed to realise just how much. He wasn't really sure what he could do here; he had little chance of getting his suit back working without any equipment.


	5. Chapter 5

"I told you to wait outside," Tony said suddenly, causing Peter to flinch with surprise.  
"What?"  
"I told you to wait outside. But then you came charging in. You could have been killed!"  
"I heard gunfire…"  
"So you ran towards it?"   
"…My spidey sense told me to…?" Peter replied quietly, not expecting it to go down very well as a defence. Tony gave him a cynical (though slightly amused) look in reply. He sighed.  
"The whole point of all of this was to keep you safe. I know you want to help people, but I'm responsible for you. I'm responsible for making sure you don't get hurt when you're out as Spider-Man. After last time…" [he paused, remembering the feeling of holding Peter's practically dead body], "…after that, I said I'd do a better job, keep a better eye on you. But now, here we are, both trapped. What a good job I did!"  
"We're both ok though. Sure, we're stuck here for now, but we'll figure a way out. Or the great technology you've created will send someone here to rescue us. I really appreciate everything you do for me, Mr Stark. I know I'm probably a pain in your ass sometimes. I'm glad you're stuck here with me. Well, I don't mean I'm glad you're stuck. I just mean I'm glad I'm not on my own," Peter told him, starting to babble, "I feel safe when you're around." Tony wasn't sure what to say to that. Secretly, it has meant a lot to him. He just patted Peter's shoulder, supportively.

"What was it like?" Peter asked him, apprehensively, after a few more minutes of silence, "When you were kidnapped in Afghanistan? When you had a battery keeping you alive, and made your first Iron Man suit to escape? Did you know it would work?" Tony had never spoken to him about it before. He'd barely spoken to anyone about it. He was silent so long Peter thought he wasn't going to answer.  
"I didn't think it would work. Not really. But I had to try. I realised that I didn't want to die. There was so much I could be doing with my life, but wasn't. I kept thinking about what everyone would remember me as, if I didn't make it out of there. I didn't like it. I had to get back home and try and change things. Change myself. Be better. That's what I've been trying to do for the past decade. Be better. Make the world better. I just don't know if I am."  
"You are making the world better!" Peter interjected, supportively, "I know not everything's gone to plan…" [ he decided directly referencing Tony's mistakes would not be helpful], "but you are making a difference. I believe in you. The world believes in you."  
"I don't think the world believes in anything anymore, kid."   
"I know the Avengers are in a bit of a mess right now, but you'll sort it out. I know you will." They'd not spoke much about the divide within the Avengers and everything that happened, aside from what was necessary to fill Peter in when Tony had brought him along. Tony doubted whether the Avengers could be fixed now. It was too late. Everything was too much of a mess. It would take a miracle to bring them back together now. That or the end of the world.

They sat in silence once again. Peter ended up leaning against Tony's shoulder. Normally Tony would shift away, but he could see the kid was starting to drop off, and knew how little sleep he'd been getting recently (the watch he gave him had told him that). Sure, Tony might well be getting even less sleep, but he'd never really got enough sleep. He was used to it. Peter probably did need a lot more sleep, considering the amount of energy he seemed to use, even when he wasn't even really doing anything.


	6. Chapter 6

They were still sat like that, looking almost sweet, when Vision floated through the wall. Tony looked up, surprised to see him.  
"Are you both alright?" Vision asked.  
"Yeah, we're both fine," Tony told him in a soft voice, not wanting to wake Peter quite yet.  
"I would suggest you move to the other side of the room. Colonel Rhodes is preparing to blast the door." Tony gently shook Peter awake. He looked surprised to see Vision there at first, but smiled at him, and let him and Tony lead him to the back of the room. There was a crash from the other side of the door, then the sound of tearing metal, as War Machine slowly started forcing it open. Once it was open enough, he stepped through, lifting up his faceplate and looking across the room, glad to see for himself that his friend appeared unharmed.  
"Taking a nap in here were you Tone?" he asked jokily.  
"Well we've got to give you something to do," Tony joked back. "They had an EMP that took out the suit," he explained.  
"How come the light's still working?" Rhodey asked, gesturing at the strip bulb in the ceiling. Tony stared at it too. How had he not noticed, not thought about it? How was the light still working? Rhodey was surprised to see his friend stumped. Tony clearly wasn't having a good day.

"What's going on out there?" Tony asked, a look of concentration on his face, like he was coming up with a plan.  
"We didn't pick up any other people around. Not alive. There's three dead men we think in the rubble outside. The rest of the site appears empty, but we've not checked it out yet."  
"The rest of them must have got away then. We need to find out who they are, and what they're up to. They had some serious weaponry. Right, Rhodey, Vision, if you start checking out the rest of the site, see if you can find anything. I want to get into a working suit. But actually, I think I'll have to get back to my workshop to get out of this one. Vision, can you tell F.R.I.D.A.Y. to send a suit to pick me up? And ask Happy to come to pick Peter up."  
"I could stay and help!" Peter protested.  
"I know you could, but I promised your aunt I wouldn't keep you too long. I'm sure you have a lot of homework you need to do." Peter wasn't sure about how to argue against that. "If you leave the suit with him, I'll fix it when I get a chance," Tony continued. Peter wasn't keen on the idea of being separated from his suit either, even if he wasn't allowed out in it on his own at the moment. After what happened last time he lost his suit, he liked to have it, just in case. But it needed fixing, so he didn't have much of a choice; he'd just have to hope Tony will fix it soon, and not get busy doing other stuff. 

Tony led Peter headed outside, waiting for their respective lifts to arrive. As they went through the rubble outside the metal room, Tony steered Peter through, clearly trying to avoid him seeing the bodies of the men crushed there. They breathed in the fresh air with relief, after the dusty, stuffy air in the room.  
"You did good today, kid," Tony told him, before flying off with the suit that had flown over for him, "I know today didn't exactly go to plan, but still. Don't get disheartened by it. I'll see you soon."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll probably write some more stories in the series at some point, but to be honest, at the moment I'm not sure where the story's going to go.


End file.
